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Calgary’s AHL team in Stockton officially unveils name, jerseys

Take your first look at the Stockton Heat’s jerseys, after the team officially unveiled their name and logo for next season. Stockton, the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, will play in the newly formed Pacific Division of the AHL in 2015-16.

When Calgary’s AHL team takes the ice in Stockton next season, they’ll do so as the Stockton Heat. In an event held Wednesday evening at Stockton’s University Plaza Waterfront Hotel, Stockton’s AHL team president Dave Piecuch unveiled both the name – Stockton Heat – and jerseys for the team which will begin play in the AHL in 2015-16 in the newly formed Pacific Division. Take your first look at the jerseys:

The name was selected through a naming contest that received over 10,000 submissions, and, says Piecuch, Heat was one of the most popular entries. While other newly founded AHL teams, such as the Ontario Reign and Bakersfield Condors, maintained their ECHL names, Stockton and Calgary changed theirs to signal a new era. “Calgary wanted to rebrand the team for a couple of reasons,”Piecuch said in a release. “First, they wanted the fans to have no confusion that this is a new team at a higher level. They were also eager for a fresh start for hockey in the City of Stockton under a new banner.” In naming the Stockton franchise Heat, the Calgary Flames organization carries the name over from its previous minor league club in Abbotsford, B.C. The Abbotsford Heat played in the AHL from 2009 until 2014, when the club moved to Glens Falls, N.Y., and became the Adirondack Flames. “I think this is a great name for this area, and fans will grow to love it,”Piecuch told the Stockton Record. “We like that it honors our parent team and keeps the weather theme we’ve had here with the Thunder.” The logo is a nice combination of all things Flames, too. In a way, the ‘S’ within the ‘S’ harkens back to the days of the Atlanta Flames, and the color scheme is in line with the present day Flames. In addition, the way the logo contained within a larger circle is similar to Calgary’s shoulder patch on their current alternate jerseys. Even Stockton's shoulder patches, which are the American and Californian flags, mimic Calgary's current jerseys which have both the Canadian and Albertan flags as shoulder patches. Stockton will play out of the Stockton Arena next season, while the ECHL’s Thunder will relocate to play in Glens Falls, replacing the Adirondack Flames at the Glens Falls Civic Center.